Drones sobre Yemen

El presente artículo de Timothy Alexander Guzman, llama la atención sobre las consecuencias de la guerra contra el terrorismo islámico que desarrolla Estados Unidos en Yemen. Se desconocen las cifras exactas de civiles muertos por ataques con aviones no tripulados (drones). Al parecer, el precio que paga la población civil es muy alto. Según el Buró de periodismo de investigación, entre 2002 y 2013 se han producido 1,105 bajas.

Yemen under Assault: Drone Strike Kills 4 “Suspected Al-Qaeda” Members
By Timothy Alexander Guzman

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-under-assault-drone-strike-kills-4-suspected-al-qaeda-members/5345263

Washington’s approved drone strikes claimed the lives of 4 suspected Al-Qaeda members in the Maarib Province in Yemen on Tuesday. It took place in the wake of the “Terror Alert” issued by Washington last week. Reuters stated that “The New York Times reported on Monday that the closure of the U.S. embassies was prompted by intercepted communication between al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wuhaishi, head of Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).”
The report also said that “The Yemeni tribal leaders said five missiles struck a vehicle travelling in Maarib Province in Tuesday’s strike, killing all of its occupants. State news agency Saba also said initial reports indicated that four suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in the air strike in Maarib, but gave no further details.”
Were civilians killed by this particular drone strike? In the past, civilians killed by drone strikes in Yemen have been the usual outcome. Obama’s war on Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been more aggressive than the previous Bush administration according to the New America Foundation based in Washington D.C., stated “As of August 6, 2013, U.S. drone and airstrikes had killed an estimated 610 to 849 people in Yemen, according to the New America Foundation data. Of these deaths, 99% occurred during Obama’s presidency.”
The drone strike initiative began under U.S. President George W. Bush, but Obama has expanded the drone war in the Middle East and other parts of the world. In a report conducted by the ‘Alkarama Foundation’ a human rights organization based in Switzerland called ‘The United States’ War on Yemen: Drone Attacks’ clarified what impact the drone war in Yemen has on the civilian population:
From the first air strike in November 2002 until the month of May 2013, there have been between 134 and 226 U.S. military operations in Yemen, including strikes by aircraft, drone missiles, or attacks launched from warships stationed in the Gulf of Aden. However, the exact number of operations is unknown due to the secrecy surrounding the United States’ military interventions in Yemen. As such, the number of casualties is also unknown. In a study of civilian victims of U.S. attacks in Yemen by Yemeni journalist Ali Al-Sha’bani, he notes the difficulty of obtaining accurate information about the number of strikes and people affected. In 2012, he counted 109 air strikes in nine provinces, causing the deaths of 490 people, including 390 civilians.
While the Bureau of Investigative Journalism counted nearly 1,150 deaths between 2002 and April 2013 due to U.S. attacks, Dennis Kucinich, a representative of the U.S. Congress, placed the number of deaths in Yemen at 1,952, in a speech to Congress. He says: “We have not declared war on any of these nations [Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia] but our weapons have killed innocent civilians there. Highly reputable research shows that the number of high-level targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is estimated at about 2 percent.” The head of national security in Yemen, Ali Hassan Al-Ahmady, announced that during 2012, a hundred members of al-Qaeda had been killed by U.S. aircraft strikes
The latest reports on the U.S. drone strike in Yemen can be a prelude to a military intervention led by American and British forces if the current civil war in Syria leads to an attack on Iran in the future. The “Gulf of Aden” is a strategic waterway for oil exports vital to America’s interests. The “Gulf of Aden” is located between Yemen, Somalia and the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula were the majority of people are anti-American because of America’s relentless drone strike policy. As told by a Yemeni journalist and activist Farea al-Muslimi in a U.S. Senate hearing reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism last April. (Consultar la URL mencionada).
‘Drone strikes are the face of America to many Yemenis,’ Farea al-Muslimi told a rare US Senate hearing on targeted killing yesterday.The Yemeni journalist and activist gave emotive testimony at a Senate subcommittee about the impact of drone strikes and targeted killings on his homeland. His statement was a view from beneath the strikes that is almost unique in Washington and drew some applause from the chamber.